I run Windows 2000 Professional and use Outlook 2000 for my e-mail. When I reply to e-mails from senders who are not in my address book, Outlook captures those e-mail addresses somehow. I like this feature, but I have no way of managing the addresses I want and the ones I don't. I would like to be able to view the list of captured e-mail addresses and delete the ones I don't want. Is this possible?

Brian Browning

You're in luck. Although Outlook 2002 can't do what you want automatically, Outlook 2000 and 98 can, as long as you're using Internet Mail Only mode (that is, not a Corporate or Workgroup installation). Select Options from the Tools menu and click on the E-mail Options button on the Preferences tab. Click Automatically put people I reply to in, and select a Contacts folder. (You may need to create one just for these contacts.) New contacts are placed in the specified folder. You can review this folder and either move them into your main contacts or delete them.

Outlook Express users don't have it so easy. The automatic capture of e-mail addresses is an on/off process in OE, and the captured addresses are not identified any differently than other addresses in your address book. One possible solution is to switch entirely to manual mode. Turn off automatic capture by choosing Options from the Tools menu, clicking on the Send tab, and unchecking the check box labeled Automatically put people I reply to in my Address Book. To add someone to your address book, right-click on the address in the message header and choose Add to Address Book from the pop-up menu.

There is one other way: If you never use the Business Phone field in your address book, you could go through all your contacts and add a specific value to that fieldperhaps just a digit 9. Leave the automatic capture of replied-to addresses turned on. The addresses that are automatically added will lack the tell-tale 9. You can sort your address book on the Business Phone field and review those that have been added. If you want to keep them, add the 9 in the Business Phone field. If not, delete them.

Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted by readers. By 1990, he had become PC Magazine's technical editor, and a coast-to-coast telecommuter. His "User to User" column supplied readers with tips...
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